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'The Augusta," Largest Natural Bridge in the World. 



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Facts About San Juan County 



AREA, 5,138,560 acres. 



PAL TOWNS and 


COMMUNITY 


CENTE 




(pc 


•pulation) 


Monticello ■ 




1,400 


Blanding 




1,100 


La Sal 




300 


Bluff 




250 


Boulder 




100 


Lockerhy 




250 


Ginofcr ilill 




60 , 


Cedar Point 




150 


Blue Ridge 




50 


East Canyon 




100 


Unclassified 




250 



POPULATION, 4,000 (1920). 



(altitude) 
7,000 
6,000 
7.000 
4,200 
6,600 
6,600 
6,600 
6,600 
6,600 
6,600 
6,600 



TELEPHONE crnnections between all tcwDs and principal points. 
"MAIL SERVICE, daily U. S. Mail and Parcel Post to all towns. 



I 



PRINCIPAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 

Irrigated land 



Alfalfa 

Alfalfa seed 

Wheat 

Oats 

Corn 

Potatoes 200 to 400 bushels per acre 

Fi'uits — apples, peaches, pears, apricots and plums. 



3 to 6 tons per acre 

5 to 10 bushels per acre 

60 to 80 bushels per acre 



Dry Farm 

1 to 2 

20 to 50 
30 to 60 
20 to 50 
100 to 300 ' 
Melons, tomatoes 



and all varieties of garden truck grows luxuriantly. 



IMINERAL PRODUCTS — uranium gold, silver, copper, coal and petroleum. 



JLAND IN COUNTY 

Land under cultivation (average acre values) 

Irrigated 30,000 acres $50 to $150 

Dry farmed 30,000 acres $25 to 50 

Total agricultural land in county 
Land now appropriated 
Unoccupied land suitable for farming 
Grazing land 



1,000,000 acres 

275,000 acres. 

275,000 acres 

4,138,560 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



^HE FOLLOWING REPORT on the resources and 

opportunities to be found in San Juan county, Utah, 

has been prepared under the direction of the board of 

county commissioners, and the statements made can be 

depended upon as being conservative and reliable. 

San Juan county invites the homeseeker wlio is able 
and willing to make the most of the opportunities which 
present themselves. We need hardy, industrious citizens, 
who will help make San Juan county the ''Garden Spot 
of the West." 



General Characteristics 



There are in San Juan County over one million acres of choice agricultural 
land which await only the plow of the farmer to become productive. The 
remainder of the five million acres in the county consist mainly of good 
grazing land, interspersed here and there by large box canyons. The general- 
nature of the country is rolling and most of the land is covered by a more 
or less heavy growth of sage-brush. 



Climate 



The climate varies from temperate in the northern and central parts of the 
county to semi-tropical in the southern portions. As in all arid regions the 
extremes of temperature as between day and night are relatively great, and' 
the average yearly temperature is in the neighborhood of fifty-two degrees,, 
varying considerably in differentt parts of the county. 

The air is crisp and dry, and the days are usually warm, while the nights 
are cool all the year round. As in most regions of comparative high altitude. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



Avith the setting -of the sua the temperatur* falls rapidly. The sun shines 
nearly every day and the growing season is over seven months long. 

The altitude varies from 4,200 feet elevation at Bluff to 7,000 feet at 
Monticello and La Sal. 

The combination of high altitude with the warm summer days and the 
■cool nights, and dry, bracing air from the mountains makes San Juan county, 
Utah, one of the most healthful sectios of the inter-mountain West. 



Soil 



The soil is, for the most part, deen and fertile, and is easily cultivated, 
"varying from a light sandy to a haw clay loam, being especially adapted 
to cereals, vegetables of all kinds including sugar beets, sugar beet seed, 
.alfalfa and alfalfa seed. 



Agricultural Resources 



The large stretch of rolling country to the east of Monticello is destined 




Dry Farm Garden Test Plat of Clarence Bailey, twelve miles east of 

Monticello. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



to become one of the foremost dry-farming sections in the west, and according 
to J. Paxman our State Dry Farm Specialist will become the future granery 
of Utah. 

The soil is for the most part, deep and fei'tile, and is covered in most 

places with sage-brush and in many places is overgrown with clumps of 

pinyon and cedar trees, which furnish good fence posts and fire wood for the 

settler, but are not suitable for lumber. The average annual precipitation 

here for a period from 1907 to 1916 has been 19 inches. 

The air is dry, which with the warm days and cool nights with 
heavy dew-fall, makes ideal conditions for the maturing of dry-farm crops. 

Nearly all of the agricultural lands ai"e capable of producing profitable 
crops if proper Dry Farm methods are used and will produce abvindant 
yields of irrigated crops wherever water can be gotten to the land. However, 
this section is essentially a dry-farm territory most suitable for grain 
raising 

South of Blanding lies the White mesa, a gently rolling country of ap- 
proximately twenty-five thousand acres, on the south slope of the Blue moun- 
tains The soil here is of a more sandy nature than that further north 
and the rainfall is not so great. A canal to reclaim ten-thousand acres of 
the White Mesa has just been completed. When the water is gotten onto 
this land it will develop into a splendid country for the raising of hay, corn, 
potatoes and other vegetables, fruits of all kinds, and sugar-beets. The 
winters are mild and the summers moderate. 

Grain is grown here successfully, but the land will doubtless eventually 




Field of Dry Farm Oats on Decker Farm on Dodge Point, seven miles south 

of Monticello 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



be given over to more intensive farming. It is a section which is very well 
adapted to dairving and hog raising as well as to the winter feeding of 
cattle and horses, and stock can be pastured all year, except for two or 
three months in winter while the snow is on the ground, at which time the 
large crops of hay that can be raised here will provide ample winter feed, 
either in the form of hay, alfalfa meal, or silage. 

Demonstration has already proven that Sa i Juan county is de.stined to 
be one of the banner seed raising sections of the country. Trial plats on 
the dry farms have shown that the grcwing of sugar beet seed for market 
will become one (f the main sources of income, while the raising of alfalfa 
seed has already become an industry cn the older farms which have passed 
the pioneering stage, and whose ow..ers have had time to give to the more 
intensive methods of farming. A great many of the farmers already grow 
their own vegetable seed, which has shown them that there is no use in 
purchasing hardly anything of this kind which takes so much of the farmers' 
money of other districts, just at a time when they have no income. 

UNOCCUPIED LANDS 



There are thousands of acres of valuable Dry-farm lands, as well as 
thousands of acres of land which may be profitably brought under iri-i- 
gation, within the bounds of this county still unoccupied. 

Enlarged Homestead Act. 

The act of Congress of February 19, 1909, commonly known as the Smoot 




Harvseting corn on dry farm of J. R. Ward, near Lockcrby. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 





TEMPLE OF THE GODS RAINBOW BRIDGE 




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FULL INFORMATION GIVEN UPON REQUEST 




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of sound successful banking- are co.i- 






spicuous in this institution: 






Strong' i:h of resource j an 1 ma lage- 






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A complete, cffic'ent and active or- 






grnizati n assuring cap-.bie service. 






The spirit of serv'ce which seeks 






to advance the interests of our custo- 






mers in evry possible way. 

We are located at the County seat. 






of San Juan County, and at the junc- 






tif n of all roads in and out. 





8 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



act, provides that any qualified entryman may enter 320 acres of non-irri- 
gable, non-mineral, unre erved and unappropriated public land, which does 
not contain mei'chantable timber. 

NON-RESIDENT LAND 

Under Section 6 of the Enlarged Homestead act, provision is made whereby 
title may be acquired without living on the land. 

It is the intention of the law that it be applied only where there is 
not water upon the land of sufficient quantity and quality for domestic and 
stockwatering purposes to make it possible to continuously reside upon the 
lands entered, or where it is not feasible and within a reasonable expense, 
to c.ig or bore a well on the land with which to furnish such water supply. 

The requirements of the law as to cultivation under this section are that 
within the first two years of the life of the entry, or from date of allowance 
of the entry, the entryman must cultivate at least one-eighth of his entry, 
or 40 acres of a 320 acre entry, and that within the third year of the life 
of the entry there must be cultivated at least one-fourth of the area of the 
entry or 80 acres of a 320 acre entry. And that during the remaining years 
of the life of the entry there must be cultivated at least one-fourth of the 
entry until final proof is submitted, and proof may be submitted at the 
end of five years or any time within seven years. 




Dry Farm Picnic visiting crops on the sage brush lands south of Monticello 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



RESIDENCE LAND. 

Under the General provisions of the Enlarged Homestead Act title may be 
acquired to lands 320 acres in area, by establishing residence upon the land 
within six months aftr the date of allowance of the entry, and cultivating at 
least one-sixteenth of the area of the etry within the first two years of the 
life of the entry and one-eighth within the third year of the life of tho entry, 
and proof may be submitted at the end of three years or any time vdthin 
five years, but the residence must cover a period of at least seven months 
out of each year for three years. 

BY WHOM HOMESTEAD ENTRIES MAY BE MADE. 

No person who is not a citizen of the United States or who has not made 
his declaration of Intention to become a Citizen of the United States may 
make a homestead entry. 

Any male person who has arrived at the age of 21 years. 

Any female person of the age of 21 years who is not married. 

Any woman who for some reason is the head of a family. 

Any person who has lost, forfeited, or abandoned a former entry for 
reasons beyond his control, may make a Second Homestead Entry. 

Any person who has heretofore entered less than 320 acres of arid land 
may enter such an amount of arid land as will together with his former 
entry not exceed 160 acres. 

Any person who has entered less than 160 acres of irrigable land may 




Harvest Time on Peter Bailey's Dry Farm, Monticello. 



10 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



enter not to exceed twice such amou.it as will when added to the amount 
foi'merly entered not to exceed 160 acres. 

Any person who has formeiiy entered 160 acres of land and lived thereon 
for fourteen mo.iths and commuted to cash may make entry of 160 acre.> 
of land, as if such ftrmer entry had not been made, but this does not apply 
in the matter of a.i enlarged homestead. 

DESERT LANDS 

All lands of this county are of such character as to be subject to entry 
under the Desert Land Laws, provided water could be obtaini;d fcr the 
irrigation of the same. 

DESERT LAND LAW. 

• 

Areas up to 320 acres may be entered under the Desert Land Law, and 
the requiiements of the law are that there shall be expended each year 
by way of cultivation and improvements at least $1.00 per acre for the area 
entered, and proof of such expenditure must be made to the Local Land 
Office annually. Proof must be submitted at the end cf four years, or may 
be submitted at any time that expendituie has been made to the amount of 
$4 per acre for the tract entered, and when at least cne-eighth of the entry 
has been brought under irrigation and the irrigation system so constructed 
that the water may be taken over the irrigable portion of the entry, which 




Blue Mountains, where winter snows pile up to run off in sprnig, and 
be caught for irrigation purposes. These mountains form the natural reser- 
voir for the greater part of the irrigation systems of the county. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 17 

in all events shall be at least one-eighth of each legal subdivision entered. 
The cost at the time of application for Desert lands, is 25 cents per acre 
and at the time of final procf is $1 per acre, and in order to procure patent 
for desert lands the entryman shall have procured title to sufficient water 
-with vi^hich to permanently irrigate all of the irrigable portion of his entry. 

BY WHOM DESERT LANDS MAY BE ENTERED 

Persons who have entered no more than 160 acres of- homestead land, may 
enter 320 acres of desert land. 

Female persons over the age of 21 years, married or single, who are 
citizens of the United States or have declared their intentions to become 
such, may enter 320 acres of desert land. 

Any persoi who has heretofoie or may hereafter lose, forfeit or abandon, 
enter not to exceed such amount as will when added to the amount formerly 
entered not exceed 160 acres. 

Suggestions 

For the convenience of persons desiring to make homestead or Desert 
Land Entry it will be advisable fcr them to procure from some United 
States Land Office, pamphlets for homesteads; Circular No. 541, "Sug- 
gestions to Homesteaders and persons desiring to make Homesteads." 

For Desert Lands: Circular No. 474 "Statutes aid Regulations governing 
ENTRIES AND PROOFS UNDER THE DESERT-LAND LAWS. 

FUTURE OF DAIRY FARMING 

One of the greatest opportunities for the farmer here is the dairy business 
Every farm in the county shows that wherever the sage brush has been re- 
moved and the land allowed to go to grass, a very heavy so:l cf blue grass 
and native grama grass will cover the ground and make luxuriant pasture. 
The dry farm section being essentially a grain growing section, this with 
the waste from the grain, such as bran and corn fodder, makes an ideal 
combination for the advancement of the industry. The marketing problem 
of dairy products need not be brought into question, as it is at hand in 
every mountain range surrounding the farm district. To the north, south and 
east of this district are mining camps which employ thousands of laborers 
who depend on our farmproducts for their sustenance. As our dairying 
business will develop so will these markets increase through the added 
development of the camps as the years go by. 

In this relation this article would not be complete without calling attention 
to the fact that forage of every desci'iption which can be used for ensilage 
attains splendid growth on our farms, this branch of the feeding industry for 
dairying being one of the most prolific sources of milk production. 



12 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



COUNTY'S GROWTH INDICATED BY ASSESSMENT ROLLS. 

An indication of the rate at which San Juan is growing is seen in its 
assessed valuation of property. In 1919 the valuation was $2,500,000. In 
1920 it was over $3,000,000. During the past two years there has been prob- 
ably 200,000 acres of land entered by homesteaders, and this land will become 
taxable within the next three years giving the county taxable property suf- 
ficient to carry on the ccuny's business, build good schools and improve our 
roads until we will be the banner county of the state along these lines. 

LIVESTOCK POSSIBILITIES 

The assessment roll shows that San Juan collected taxes in the year 1919, 
on about 20,000 cattle, 33,000 sheep, 1,500 horses, 334 hogs. Tlie one sure 
thing about these figures is that they are not too high. The number of 
hogs here given doesn't cover more than 33 per cent of the swine in the 
county at that time, and how near these figures indicate the real number of 
cattle sheep and horses, is but a guess. 

It is demonstrated beyond question that the capacity of the county for live- 
stock is made greater by every acre brought under cultivation, and with 




SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



13 



the natural grass and forage available from spring to fall, what tremen- 
dous increases could be made in the number of cattle, sheep, horses, and 
swine in the county, would be difficult to estimate. 

The swine industry, though in its infancy in the county, has yet been 
carried to a point where no further question may attach to it as a rich 
business. 

Raising sheep on the farm where they are protected from predacious 
animals, and their wool is not combed off by brush and snags, is another 
enterprise gaining every day in popularity. 




Field of Turkey Red Wheat on the Dry 
Farm Lands of San Juan county 



14 SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



TIMBER AND LUMBER 

The mountainous sections of the ccutny are well covered with yellow pine, 
spruce and fir timber which will give ample lumber for building purposes 
in the county for years to come. There are four saw mills on the foot of the 
Blue Mountains, and one on the south end of the La Sals, with good roads 
to them, which puts lumber within easy reach of the people of every sec- 
tion of the county. Lumber can be purchased in the towns for from $35 to 
$60 per thousand feet, according to the class desired. 

As yet there has been no attempt to commercinlize the timebr resources of 
the county on a large scale, the mills operating heie being of small capacity, 
having been installed to meet the present needs of the people. 

The Elk Mountains, west of the Blues, within the south division of the 
La Sal National Forest still in its virgin state has been estimated by 
the government to contain 500,000,000 feet cf merchantable timber. While 
this timber is more or less inaccessible at pi-esent there is no doubt but that 
whenever the other timber of the county becomes depleted it will be developed 
and made available to the consumer. 



Promising Sections Still to Develop 



Saying nothing of the regions of the county which have already been 
claimed, whose immense resources have hardly yet been tickled by cultivation 
jind development, there are valuable districts still untouched. Some of these 
places are as promising in every way as were the acres now comprising the 
most prosprous towns in the county. 

Whether they are to be considered as arid or as irrigated lar.ds, there is 
substantial reason for regarding them as sure to be valuable as soon as they 
are taken intelligently in hand for improvement. If they are to be farmed 
without irrigation, there is ample precedent for assuming without fear that 
it can be done successfully; the rainfall, climate and soil being an unfailing 
combination. 

If they are to be irrigated, while the undertaking is more difficult and 
more expensive, retui'ns more slow and area of operation more limited, there 
are still good leasons for going ahead and expecting success. One irrigation 
will produce almost any irrigated crop in San Juan. If done right it will 
insure one cuttng of alfalfa, and more or less pasturage for the remaindier 
of the season. If for some other kind of crop and the land is first watered 
and then plowed, the crop is reasonably sure. 

Melting snows, spring rains, and numerous chances to reservoir should 
make one irrigation possible over a great percent of what is now unbroken 



y. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 15 



SAN JUAN GARAGE CO. 

Ford Cars and Tractors 

Auxiliaries and Supplies 

CARS FOR HIRE 
SERVICE STATION 

Monticello, -:- Utah 



J. T. PEHRSON, Pres. H. E. PEHRSON, Vice-Pres. C. R. CHRISTENSEN 

MOAB-BLUFF STAGE COMPANY 



Daily Passenger and Freight Service 
Between Moab and Bluff 



SPECIAL TRIPS TO PLACES OF INTEREST 
MADE BY ARRANGMENT WITH MANAGER 



Address: 
C. R. CHRISTENSEN, Manager MONTICELLO, UTAH 



16 SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 

"wild. Besides all this there are splendid chances sometime of big canals 
being taken out from the Dolores River or the San Juan River to cover big 
iireas of the county. 

In twelve years White Mesa has grown from a wilderness to a farming 
Tegion surrounding a town of a thousand people. The mesa east of there 
is equally good besides being larger. Black Mesa on the west is the same 
f orn i tion, though smaller in size. On west in the county, the soil, climate, 
elevation, rainfall, in fact all the natural virtues of White Mesa may be 
found in regions not yet claimed at all. 

Along Montezuma Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Indian Creek, and other 
smaller streams running away from the mountains, much water goes to waste 
every year, while splendid chances for canals and reservoirs are waiting 
idly along their course. 



Mineral Resources 



San Juan County has two main ranges of mountains within its 
confines within whose bowels have been found gold, silver and copper, while 
good bodies of copper-silver ores are found in the faults of the foothills which 
will in time be developed, making an industry the value of which cannot be 
estimated, and which will furnish home markets for a great deal of the coun- 
ty's farm products. 

The rare metals for v/hich there is developing a great dcm?nd throughout 
the commercial world, are found here in paying quantities, in fact there is 
the largest single group of uranium mines in the United States within our 
boarders. While there has been very little of these ores shipped to date, 
except from the northern end of the county, which lies close to railroad 
transportation, as soon as our road system is developed to admit of heavy 
truck hauling these metals will be produced in quantities which will add 
thousands and thousands to the wealth of this empire. 

The greatest permanent mining development being carried on within the 
county at present is at Big Indian mine, where a body of copper ore is exposed 
on the surface measuring into the millions of tons. Here a leaching plant 
of 250 tons daily capacity is being erected and tried out. Tliere have been 
already spent more than $250,000 in the erection of this plant and the 
development of the mine, and it is expected that it will be in full operation by 
early fall. 

Gold and silver is found in the Blue mountains, which if found in a dis- 
trict tapped by railroad facilities would be producing incomes to its owners, 
and the same may be said of the La Sal mountans, but until the mines are 
made more accessible to smelting facilities or richer finds are uncovered they 
will probably lie as an undeveloped resource. 

Coal is found around the bases of the different mountain ranges, but as 



O UM fV LIf I g T 








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INDIAN RES 

ST i_OUi 



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SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



17 



wood for domestic purposes is so plentiful and as yet there has been no de- 
mand for it by manufacturing enterprises, its development remains more or 
less in the prospective stage. It can be said however, that geological con- 
ditions point so clearly to its plentifulness in paying veins that there is no 
worry but that when the demand comes the county will be able to supply it 
without trouble. 







Illustration of gold medal awarded for 

the largest acre yield of oats in 

the United States for the 

year 1919. 



18 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



Principal 1 owns and Community Centers 



Monticello, the county seat of the county, has a population of 1,400 souls 
its business houses consist of three general merchandise stores, o.i^ of v.hic'.i 
carries the largest tock of goods in southeastern Utah. Two restaurants, 
three refreshment pailors, numerous lodging houses, blacksmith shop, drug- 
store, barber srop, doctors, lawyers and other professional me i. A $10,00^ 
printing plant to take caie of the gi owing business of the cou.ity has been 
recently established here, from whose press the only newspaper of th? 
county is printed.. It has an up-to-date garage and auto supply station 
and a flour mill which supplies flour to surrounding districts. 

The town is situated at the cast base of the Blue mountains on a gently 
sloping plain, upo i which the wateis from the eternal snows cf the moun- 
tains are led through irrigation caiials to the lands to the north, south and 
east. The area embraced within the Monticello irrigation district accordng 
to a recently completed water adjud cation survey amcunts to 29,249 acres, 
making a system large enough to raise the forage aid vegetables for any 
sized industrial enterprises or mining camps which may grew up in the 
cantiguous country. 

Modern electric l.ght and water system is another of the conveniences 
which make Monticello a desireable place for a home besides grammar aid 
high school facilities and churches, so essential to the newcomer with a fcnrly 
to raise and educate. 




i 




Street sceno in Mo.iticello when the people had gathered for a celebration. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 1^ 

BLANDING. 

Blanding is the seco.xl incorporated town of the county. While it is one 
cf the newest settlements, yet its location and natural advantages for a 
city were so apparent that it has attracted the wealthiest people of our 
■ccmmonwealth to its cofines for residence, and within the past eight years 
has grown from a straggling hamlet of a few tent houses to a little city of 
some 1,100 inhabitants. Blanding has the advantage of the other towns of 
the county in many respects. In the first place it did not come into existance 
through the accumulation of a few ranch houses to a town, but was conceived 
<ind laid out as such in its inception by some of the old settlers who, seeing 
In the location a place where a city could be built with all the modern ad- 
"vantages, surveyed it out with broad streets, having in mind at all times its 
future growth. From the very first it was decided that no temporary or 
shoddy looking buildings should be erected, and the result is that a com- 
Tnunity pride was at once engendered and today there is no town of its size 
in the state which can beast more tastily constructed and permanent looking 
residences or stores. The residence lots were laid out in acre tracts, and 
today beautiful and spacious lawns, surrounded by ornamental shade and 
fruit trees give it the appearance of being a town of much greater age than 
it i-eally is. At first the fences were built to the street line so that live- 
stock would not injure the growing shade trees, and as these have attained 
sufficient growth the fences have been moved back and splendid sidewalks 
"have been laid so that now one would suppose when walking the streets that 
lie was in one of the old settlements of the middle states. 

The location of the town is on the upper or north end of what is known 
as White Mesa, a tableland sloping toward the San Juan river from the 
southern end of the Blue mountains, and upon whose level xpanse two large 
canals bring the ever melting snows of the mountains to its fields and or- 
chards. These two canals were designed to water some 15,000 acres, and 
can. be enlarged as time warrants and means are found to construct storage 
reservoirs, until the whole mesa, composing some 35,000 acres will be covered. 
At present the waving fields of alfalfa and orchards on the farms give ab- 
solute assurance that in time this spot so blessed by nature will more than 
fullfill the Bible prophecy of the desert blossoming as the roes. 

The town is the center of trade for the southern and west end of the 



EZEKIEL JOHNSON 

BLANDING, UTAH 

Vftfprjj n iTiiinp souV^ter" *" m^ 

T ClCl ail UUIUC ^„j Northern Arizona 
Complete Outfitting. Everrtliing necessary to Safety 
and contort. 



W. G. SHUTT 

Plumbing and Steam Fitting 
Sheet Metal Work 

MONTICELLO and BLANDING 



20 SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



county, and is the main outfitting point for sightseers to the Natural Bridges 
which lie some forty miles to the west. It is on the line of the Federal 
Post Road which is being built into the county, and will be a main stopping 
place for tourists going through, when our roads are connected with those 
of th',- ?outhv.'p«tern part of the state. 

The people of t^ie town have recently erected a meeting house at a cost 
of over $50,000 where they may all meet to worship the creator on Sundays 
or for amusement or intellectual advancement during week days. It has good 
grade and high schools, water works and electric lights for the comfort of 
its inhabitants and is supplied with stores, jfarage, flour mill and all other 
town facilities which may be needed by its inhabitants or by travelers or 
traders who enter its precincts. 

All of the towns and most of the community centers are connected with 
telephone service, and either daily or tri-weekly mail service, which is the 
case in the community centers. 

Good automobile roads connect every settlement with the county seat as 
well as the other towns of the county. There is being built into the county 
from the main line of the D. &. R. G. railroad on the north, a government 
post road, while daily truck service connects Monticello with the railroad 
at Dolores, Colo., during the summer months. The state of Colorado is now 
expending $30,000 on the grading of a road from Dolores, to the Utah state 
line, which will give an excellent highway to within twenty miles of Monti- 
cello, and which will be met by San Juan County with an equally good road 
just as soon as it can be accomplished. The completion of this road by the 
two states will give eastern auto tourists who visit the Mesa Verde National 
Park, a splendid highway over which to travel to the gi'eat Salt Lake, con- 
necting them with the interstate highways to the Pacific coast, or permit 
them to make a circle through the great intermountain basin to the Yellow- 
stone park before returning to their eastern homes. It will also make it 
easy for sightseers who wish to take side trips to the wonderland of south- 
tastern Utah to drive their cars in speed and comfort to the various out- 
fitting points of Bluff, Blanding or Monticello, from where they may 
procure guides to - the various places of interest. 

BLUFF CITY. 

The town of Bluff is the oldest settlement in San Juan county. Situated 
on the banks of the river of the same name it nestles in an enlarged delta 
between the bluffs through which the great San Juan flows, it is inhabited 
by well-to-do stockmen, who have taken advantage of the fertility of the soil 
to plant orchards and vinyards until it is an Eden to those seeing it for 
the first time after passing over the long weary miles of upland plains to 
reach there. Bluff has the largest per cent of fine residences of any 
town in the United States in proportion to the population of the place. 

This little city while being famous as the first civilizing influence for the 
dusky red men of the southwest, is a center of trade to all of the contiguous 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



21 



Indian tribes. Here the famous Navajo blanket is first brought for barter 
to the pale face, and the blood red ruby or more dusky garnet often find 
their way into the traders hands, brought there by aborigines- 
Bluff is also famous for its artesian wells, five of which have been driven, 
and sending their gushing waters to the surface have largely replaced the 
ditches from the river which originally gave life to the vegetation which 
helps so much to make the homes of the town the remark of travelers and 
the delight of its residents. The town is also the outfitting point for the 
great San Juan oil fields which lie to the south and west, and which accord- 
ing to the most learned geologists are destined to be one of the few re- 
maining deep well oil fields to "be developed in the United States. 



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22 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



LA SAL. 

La S. 1, situated on a vast sloping- plai i diverp,"np: from the south base 
of the mountains of the same name, is the third largest irrigated section 
« f the county. Theie are probably about three thousand acres of land here 
\ atered from the creek which is brought around the mountains for some 
<ight mles before being diverted to the various laterals which distribute 
iL to the dfferent ranches. 

The La Sal district is not confined to the irrigated section alone, but 
being of about the same aRitude as Monticcllo, settlers hav flocked in 
1here within the past few yeers, until dry farms dot the landscape for 
x.iiles in all directio. s outside of the irrigated district. The town proper is 
situated o.i the line of what will in time be one of the main interstate high- 
-\ ays for sight seeing tourists. The continuation of the Rainbow rraii, the 
j.rt-atest scenic tcuiist route of Cocrado, is n. w be'ng built by the federal 
j'overnment through that part of the La Sal National Ftrcst, and whei 
tills is completed the autoing traveler will use it to reach the great 
T,-onderla;:d of southeastern Utah, or as a pasrage from the mountains of 
Colorac'o to the great Salt Lake and ether wonders of the great inteimont- 
l..in ba^in. 




Gathering at Lockerby on the occa sion of the annual Lockerby Fair. 

LOCKERBY. 



Lockerby, the largest of the two farthest east community settlements of 
the dry farm sections of the county, has a population of 250 souls scattered 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 23 

within its voting precincts. It has grown within the past four years from 
two or three isolated homesteads to its present dimensions, yet it may be 
said that its growth has hardly begun. Settled by farmers from the east- 
ern and southern states, its people have shown a virility which may well be 
the envy of older communities. Last year the people of the community 
determined to show to the wcrld what they were producing, and to do so 
gave a community fair. The products from this fair were taken to the state 
fair at Salt Lake City, and while being in competition with the irrigated 
products of other sections of the state the exhibit created such favorable 
comment that a special silver cup was made and given to the county for the 
best dsiplay of dry farm products. There is a good grade school situated 
in th center of the district, and the county board of educrition has Just let 
the contract for the building of a new school house which will accomodate 
the increasing number of pupils. 

Ginger Hill is another community center joining Lockerby on the west, 
which has giown coincidnet with that of the former; in fact the two are so 
closely allied and work so well together that they might be reckoned as one if 
it were not for the fact that the Ginger Hill neighborhood has its own 
school house which is its community center. This little community as well 
as that of Boulder and in f?ct the entire eastern dry farm section should 
share equally in the credit for the splendid Lockerby fair and the advertising 
it gave the county. 

BOULDER. 

Boulder is a district within itself having a populatoin of 100, whose farms 
occupy the high plateau between jPehrson and Boulder canyon. It has its 
own school house which is a community center, and here the people have 
joined in getting together at stated intervals for amusement and general 
closer communion. They have an organization of their own, have adopted' 
a system of raising money for civic improvements and have a fund of over 
SlOO in their treasury. They also get out en mass whenever occasion arises- 
and work on any improvement for the betterment of the whole which may- 
arise and their spirit is I'apidly permeating other communities much to the 
betterment of the whole county. 

East Canyon is one of the very newest dry farm community sections in 
the county. Within the last two years it has grown from half a dozen 



A. B. BARTON 


Oscar W. McConkie 


Licensed Abstractor 


LAWYER 


MONTICELLO, UTAH 


Mon^icello, Utah 



24 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



homesteads until now there is not an unclaimed section of public land in 
the two towships which surround it. A postoffice has been applied for and 
the people are now taking- steps to build a house for a cmmunity center at 
which to gather for community recreation and general wellfare. This 
may well be termed the soldier settlement of the county, ex-service men 
h.aving flocked in there since their return to private life until they are well 
in the preponderance. 

CEDAR POINT. 

Cedar Point, claiming equal credit with Lockei'by in benig the settlement 
farthest east in the county has a population appi'oximating 150. It lies on 
the south side of Coalbed canyon, a deep gorge which runs southwesterly 
into the state from the Colorado line cutting off that fertile plain from a 
direct route into the county until such time as dynamite and human toil are 
able to blast a roadway down its sides and across to its neighboring com- 
munities. The community is situated as are the other dry farm sections, 
on the high plains whose fertile soil runs clear to the canyon's brink, but 
they are precluded for a great deal of the community work which the others 
find so profitable to join in doing through the distance they have to 
travel to get around the canyon. They have a nice little school which 
serves all the purposes of the gi-owing children at present and are so 
closely joined in their homes that they have also a regularly organized 
Sunday school and Sabath meetings for the older folks. 




Dry Fanners' picnic in grove at the state well, where annually the folk of 
the dry far:n belt gather and dir.cuss their many problems 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



25 



Scenic Features of San Juan 

Being more than a hundred miles in length and breadth, it goes without 
saying that no article of this size may describe the scenery of San Juan. 
Most of the country is unlike other parts of the state, in fact unlike any- 
thing else in the west. La Sal, one of its four mountains has the highest 
peak in Utah, and the desert wilderness of the county, though not as barren 
and unsusceptible of reclamation is perhaps as wild in its remote comers as 
any part of the intermountain region. 

Coming in from the north the visitor is attracted by the lofty peaks of 
La Sal mountain on his left, and a cedar-sagebrush country sloping off 
westward on his right to the ragged breaks of Colorado River. Southward 
he finds unique designs carved in the massive rocks which stand out like 
sphinxes, pyramids and pillars in the wide prairie. This carving was done 
by winds that blew and ocean waves which beat against their shores in 
centuries of the remote past. The towering image of "Big Indian," the 
inexpressible suggestons of nature's architecture in "Church Rock," and 
other unnamed domes and caves fill the mind with awe and bewilderment. 
"Looking-Glass Rock," with a great mysterious hole through its immense 
body savors of the enchanted places we read about in Fairy Land. 

Centrally situated in the county is the sierra-shaped Blue Mountain, and 
joining it on the south-west, the flat-topped Elk Mountain, both of them 
beautiful with tall timber and crystal springs. They have groves of maple 
and quakingasp, and an abundance of wild shrubbery, grass, and flowers. 

Canyons heading in these mountains fall rapidly and cut deep in the solid 
stone strata before emptying into San Juan or Colorado River, whose waters 
murmur off to the south-west through dizzy chasms about which men some- 
times venture to write, but which they seldom really see. In this broken 
south-west corner the winding gulfs of the two rivers unite in one mighty 
gorge, with the sharp rugged spurs of Navajo Mountain looking down 
upon them from the south-east. 

To the north-east of this lonely junction are regions wild and silent, caver- 
nous gulches with jungles of black willow and Cottonwood in the solitudes 
of their winding depths, and bare rock sloping upward from their dizzy 
brows to mesas of shadscalie brush, or areas of sandhills. The gateway to 
this wilderness is Clay Hill,' a pass high up in a cliff-bound region where 






Hammond .& Keller 



ATTORNEYS at LAW 



MONTICELLO, UTAH 



C. A. ROBERTSON 

Attorney at Law 

MOAB UTAH 

Will practice in all State and Fed- 
eral Courts. 



26 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



the east end of a picturesque valley opens out through a great shattered 
"wall, forming a wonderful gap which ten armed men could protect against 
an army. 

Farther north, and shaded by the buttes of Mossback Mesa, with Elk 
Mcuntain just beyord it, is the world-famous White Canyon, whose three 
huge natural bridges have attracted travelers from all parts of America. 
Pictures herewith suggest a faint idea of what these wonders are, but 
description amounts to little, and visitors declare in contemplating the 
biidges, even after having read and heard much about them, that they had 
:fal en far short of the reality in their imagination. 

Sf^uth of Elk Mountain is a region thirty miles in c-i'tent, covered for the 
jnDst part with a dense growth of cedar and pine. Fires driven on by the 
•v;ind have cleared wide areas in this forest, and here the grass and brush 
:gr: w rank for the soil is fertile. From the heart of this country, zigzagging 
'Off to the east, south and west, are ravines which develop rapidly into box 
'Canyons deep and w?de. The most famous of these is Grand Gulch, which 
:in ::-ome of its tremendous crooks has cut through from its channel above to 
;un elbow in its channel below, forming ponderous dry islands of solid rock; 
imrss'.ve lofty pillars surrounded by great circular echoing chambers. To 
the top of certain (f these islands no human being has yet been known 
to ascend, but others of them have afforded wonderful retreats of safety 
fcr the cncient inhabitants. 

What is known as "Goose Neck," in the San Juan river, is destined ten 
Tnllion years hence to be an isalnd similar to, though much larger than 
those in Grand Gulch. A man may stand on the narrow backbone dividing 




One of the Many Cliff Dwellirgs which are found in numerous isolated sec- 
tions of the county along the walls of canyons 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 27 



the river on his i-ight from the same river on his left. On one side it flows 
forward, on the other side it comes back having made a circle of many miles. 
A tunnel through this narrow neck would condense the fall of all those 
miles into a few hundred feet, and through such a tunnel the river would 
lUsh with tremendous force. It is estimated that such a tunnel could be 
converted into power for lighting all San Juan county. 

Comb wash is an enormous fault in the strata, reaching in almost a 
direct line from the Elk Mountain to a point sixty miles away in the Navajo' 
reservation. This prodigious ridge of rock slopes upward from the east side, 
but breaks abruptly off on the west, forming a high precipitous barrier 
with but two places where it may be crossed in all its fifty miles between 
the San Juan river and the Elk Mountain. Freaks of this kind may be 
seen on a small scale in certain other states, but for grandeur and extent 
it is doubtful whether Comb wash has a rival anywhei'e. Some terrible 
distui'bance in primeval times has hoisted it from the even strata to the 
sky-scraping position it has held durng long ages. 

Scuth-West of the junction of Comb Wash and San Juan river is the 
famous Monumental Valley, whose wonderful buttes, and pillars and monu- 
ments, keeping their stately vigil in the desert haze suggest that a hand of 
art and intelligence is responsible for their majestic shape. Viewed from a 
a hundred miles away, still lofty and imposing in the haloe of desert distance, 
they look like men in a field having met to counsel in great dignity. 

The southern part of the county abounds in traces of a people, or peoples, 
long since disappeared. Where .they went, or how, or why, a nation num- 
bering tens of thousands, leaving their castles, their homes, their gardens 
farms, reservoirs and roads to crumble and become overgrown with vegeta- 
tion, is a burning question in the minds of all who consider their ruins. The 
most aged Utes and Navajoes know nothing about them. 

They lived both en the prai'ies and in the cliffs, and their great community 
houses cover from one to three acres in what is now a tree or brush-grown 
solitude. Some of their cliff houses are still in a perfect state 
of preservation, hav'ng' been built where they are sheltered from all 
moisture. Here their mummified bodies, their clothing and utensils of war 
and agriculture have been found in great quantities, and are on exhbition 
in various cities of the United States. 

These people cultivated corn and squash in their gardens and are known 
to have had domestic turkeys, and are supposed to have had goats. Their 
homes, their reservoirs and roadways are still traceable in what has become 
a dry and quiet wilderness. Bushels of their gorgeously ornamented pottery 
broken to bits may be collected where no dwelling is visible, having perhaps 
been built of wood and crumbled long since to dust. On many a rock and 
on high cliff faces their pictures and hyeroglyphics are still in evidence^ 
cryptic records of a people long since gone to a fate unknown. 

South of Sar Juan river is the reservation of the Navajo. He is a superior 
type of Indian, skillful and industrious. His trade and his service are a 



28 SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 



distinct asset to the country, and what he may yet become with proper 
education, is a matter of interest to all who see him in his native haunts 
where he weaves his popular Navajo blanket, or moulds his famous silver 
jewelry. He has farms, houses, herds of sheep jvnd horses, and Is on the 
verge of an awakening which will cause men to wonder. 

Three or four bands of Utes still live north of the river in the county 
having prefered, and still preferring San Juan to all the 
attractions of any reservation yet set apart for them. They hunt and trade 
when the.\ can, and work when it beccmes impossible- to live without it. 
They move about from place to place hunting feed for their cayuses and 
their small flocks of goats. 

From the rich prairie slopes of Blue Mountain, where towns and farms 
are springing up like magic, there is a magnificent view of the country 
south and east in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Ship Rock stands 
out in the distant haze of New Mexico like an old. time sailing vessel on the 
ocean horizon. To the west of it is the only place in the United States where 
four states corner together. Distant mountains in the three states form a 
pleasing limit to the splendid view, and on to the north, the pancrama con- 
tinuing into San Juan county, is the grand old La Sal. 

Aside from the intrinsic value of these scenes, they have a historic 
charm giving them still greater lure. As the life story of a man 
always makes him an object of keener interest, so does a know- 
ledge of what has happened in certain of these remote corners endow 
them with new meaning. Of course it is but a guess as to what took place 
when they wero hewn down in whose skull the stone ax is still embedded 
to the withe handle, and among whose bones the flint arrow head still 
suggests the nature of their last struggles. The marks and barricades in 
passes of the cliffs, the handholds yet visible leading upward over the dizzy 
sandstone wall, the old battlements on the brow of the precipice, and those 
nnmerous round stones once used to hurl •with deadly fury at a pursuer on 
the path below, all suggest a rousing cursing, howling fight to the death 
between the old inhabitants. 

Not so much in the realm of imagination is the story of Utes and Nava- 
joes. Their old battle fields, their ambuscades, their slain, their prisioners, 
the torture and insult they meeted out to their captives, are related with 
relish by the older Indians. 

But the story of the white man is our own stoiy, and we consider his 
struggle and view his rude grave here and there among the rugged rocks with 
an interest bcri ( nly of kinship. During the ten years following the com- 
ing of the white man in the latter "seventies," between twenty-five and 
thirty died at the hands of Indians, and to know half the story, which is 
too long for this short account, is to be filled with a desire to see 
the place where it happened. 



SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 2^ 



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i»oo San wluan C^ooiiix^i^ 

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BLAINniNG, UTAH 



THE 

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Company 

Oeinekal Merchanhise 
MoivTicEi.1.0, Utah 

Prices Right 



3$ SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 

3 



The Grayson Co-operative Company 

BLANDING, UTAH "THE OLD RELIABLE" 

None but First Class Goods Offered for Sale 

Machinery, Farm Implements, DeLaval Cream Separators 
Old Standby Z. C. M. i. Shoes, Rough and Finished Lumber 
Special Preparation to Outfit Tourists for the Wonderful 
Natural Bridges. 

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED OR MONEY REFUNDED 



San Juan State Bank 

Blanding, Utah 

Capital Stock, $50,000 Surplus, $33,000 



L. H. REDD, PRESIDENT 

HANSON BAYLES, VICE-PRESIDENT 
L. B. REDD, CASHIER 

FRANCIS NIELSON 

FRANKLIN J. ADAMS 

GEORGE W. PERKINS 
WAYNE H. REED 

OLDEST AND SAFEST BANK IN SAN JUAN AND GRAND COUNTIES 

INDIVIDUAL Responsibility of directors Over $2,000,000.00 



Facts About San Juan County 



HOW TO OBTAIN UNAPPROPRIATED LAND 

Enlarged Hcmestead act Desert Land act 

Regular Homestead act 



r.HURCHES 

G:-;d church accomodaticns in all towns. 



SCHOOLS 

D"str!ct schools in rll tow.-s. 

High school at Monticello and P<landing. 



CLIMATE 

The cliinale i^■ ideal. 

Average yearly temperature, CO to 55 degrees F. 

Varies fror.i temperate in northern part of county to semi-tropical in 

souther .: portions. 
Days, warm. Nights always ccol. 
Heilthful; air is diy and crisp. One of the m-.st healthful districts in 

the United States. 



PRECIPITATION 



The average annual precipitation for the past eleven years was nine- 
teen inches. 



INDUSTRIES 



Siof'k raising — cillle, hcr:es, sheep, hogs, chickens, etc. 
Agriculture — hay, grai.i, vegetables, fruits, etc. 
Mining — uranium, geld, silver, copper, coal etc. 
Milling and Lumbering. 



ADDRESS FOR REFERENCE 

Cou.ity clerk, Monticello. San Jur.n State B.\nk, Blanding. 

Chas. Redd, La Sal. Geo. A. Adams, Monticello. 

Walter C. Lyman,, Blanding. Kumen Jones, Bluff. 

Jos. F. Barton, Verdure. Monticello State Bank, Monticello. 



Printed at hnme in the office of the 
SAN JUAN RECORD 



( 



017 063 759 8 







